Expert: Popcorn Guy - 1/3/2006

Question
I am afraid my question is fairly vague.  I can picture a scene/creature from a movie that a friend of mine said was from The Dark Crystal.  I know it isn't from The DC, but I can picture the scene.  

It is a tall black creature with wing like arms that come out and cover a person and turns them into liquid.  The creature stands straight and tall and the image I have is fairly similar to that of the wraith from Lord of the Rings.  I can picture it quite vividly although I haven't seen it in 10-15 years.  Unfortunately that is all I can give you.  I have gone through a hundred movies in my mind, but cannot pin this one down.  Any help would be fantastic.

Paul

Answer
Hi, Paul...

I think the movie you are talking about is called "The Beastmaster." It was made in 1982, and starred Marc Singer. It's kind of a "Conan the Barbarian" type movie, but, in it, there is this race of creatures that swoop in like bats, envelop their prey in their wings, and they basically evaporate their prey. In the climactic scene, this race of humanoid creatures shows up to assist The Beastmaster and his motley crew by defeating the villain's soldiers. They swoop in, do their thing, and soar off into the night. Kinda vampiric, kinda cannibalistic, but the scene is remarkably like what you describe... they do look like a LOTR wraith, no face other than a slick, skull-like head, they open their "wings," wrap around the bad guy, you hear all sorts of juicy noise, then they open their wings, and you see empty clothes.

You can find this thing on TV all the time. TBS used to show it, like, every other night. I'm sure you can find it at Blockbuster or on Netflix, though... give it a look and see if this is what you remember.

Hope this helps,

PCG